This loss has to be pinned on CC Sabathia. The lefty allowed two first inning home runs and four runs allowed before his offense even had a chance to get warmed up to Matt Moore, which was no picnic either. Sabathia would settle down after the first, going seven innings and allowing just one more run on another home run. Ryan Roberts hit two of the Rays three homers and he drove in two with the blasts. Yunel Escobar also homered against CC in the first inning, a two-run shot that screwed the nails into the coffin for the Yankees. Matt Moore was dealing from the first inning. The young lefty baffled the Yankees lineup with changeup after curveball after changeup to pile up nine strikeouts against the Yankee hitters. Robinson Cano had the only two hits of the night for the Yankees, going 2-4 with a single and a solo home run which accounted for all the Yankees scoring, otherwise Matt Moore was no-hitting the Yankees tonight. CC Sabathia has realized that he is no longer a power pitcher, but he must find other ways to get hitters out, because giving up so many first inning runs can put your team in a hole, which happened tonight when CC gave up a 4 spot in the bottom of the fourth inning. CC's fastball now sits at about 90 MPH and reaches 91 on the gun occasionally. The drop in velocity has to be substituted with another pitch that CC can get over for a strike while he is still getting a feel for his pitches early in a game.
The Yankees continue to play awful baseball at Tropicana Field, and with Hughes going against Cy Young winner David Price, I do not see the Yankees bucking that trend anytime soon. The Yankees need to start hitting lefties, and many will come their way if they do not start to prove they can hit them.
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